Intel gives $5M to NC Central’s Law School to launch new tech and policy center
Intel, one of the world’s largest makers of computer chips, is giving $5 million to Durham’s North Carolina Central University’s Law School — the largest gift in the law school’s history.
The donation will fund the creation of a new tech and policy center at NCCU, one of only six law schools in the country at a Historically Black College and University.
It’s the latest multi-million-dollar gift from tech companies to historically Black schools since the killing of George Floyd last summer. Since then, waves of companies, from Apple to IBM, have given millions in an effort to address the opportunity gaps that exist between Black and white Americans.
Browne C. Lewis, dean of NCCU’s law school, said the funding will hopefully give more Black law students access to the field of tech and corporate law. Nationwide, only around 5% of lawyers are Black, according to the American Bar Association, and Black law schools often receive less funding and partnerships than their counterparts.
The gift, which will be given to the school over five years, will support the hiring of two new professors and an executive director as well as staff for the new tech and policy center.
An additional $100,000 will go toward scholarships for law students at NCCU.
As part of the gift, Steven R. Rodgers, Intel’s general counsel, will join the law school’s board of visitors. Other Intel executives will serve as advisors to the school.
“As a company and industry, we need to do better to ensure legal and policy jobs are available to all communities, because talent is everywhere but opportunity is not,” Rodgers said in a statement. “Our investment in NCCU is only the beginning, and we will continue our efforts to provide more equitable access to tech, legal and policy careers.”
Creating a tech and policy center
Lewis, who came to NCCU last year, said she has had a goal of creating a tech and policy center.
NCCU’s focus on racial equity gives it a lens that other law schools might not have, she said. Its location near Research Triangle Park and the thriving startup scenes in Durham and Raleigh also will give it an advantage, she said.
“People don’t usually think of social justice and technology together,” she said, “but it is necessary.”
There’s a lot of technology that is impacting Black and minority communities disproportionately, she said, pointing to algorithms being used to determine prison sentences and facial recognition technology that is used for surveillance.
“We’re depending more on technology to make decisions that people used to make,” she said.
She said the tech and policy center can think about “how we can put in policies and regulations to make sure that those decisions don’t have negative consequences on communities of color.”
This story was produced with financial support from a coalition of partners led by Innovate Raleigh as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work. Learn more; go to bit.ly/newsinnovate
